Non-wood pulp mill concepts - Environment and economics

In China, over 40% of the pulp used in the paper industry is produced from cereal straws, grasses and other non-wood sources, whereas, in Western Coun tries, the contribution of non-wood sources in currently very small. The av erage plant size in China is about one tenth of that in Nordic countries. T he small plant size is mainly a consequence of the economy of raw-material collection, transportation and storage. In 1998, 107 Nordic paper and board mills produced 25 million tons of products, while about 6000 Chinese mills produced 28 million tons. The investments required for environmental prote ction are disproportionately large for the very small Chinese mills. The demand for paper and board in China has increased rapidly and is expect ed to keep increasing in the future. The predicted annual growth rate excee ds 6%. It would be possible to double non-wood paper production within abou t twenty years, if an economical and environmentally sound solution could b e developed. In this article, integrated fibre and energy concepts, aimed at improving t he economy non-wood pulping, are proposed. A simple new non-wood pulping pr ocess, capable of being integrated with local energy production, is outline d and preliminary cost estimates are presented.